Page 30 of His Gift
“Who is this Enzo person,” Dad interrupted me. “I don’t know anyone with that name.”
“No, you don’t know him,” I said, not liking where the conversation was going. “I met him last week. He has solid ideas and he’s really brilliant. I’d like to hire him.”
“What are his credentials? What college did he go to?” Dad asked. Fortunately, he rushed on with, “Bring him in for an interview and I’ll see. Meanwhile, what’s going on with your brother? He hasn’t been to the office in weeks.”
My stomach went queasy. I knew why Walt had stayed away from all of us now, but there was no way I was going to be the one to break the news to Dad.
“I don’t know, Dad,” I said. “Walt is getting his work done, and he’s doing an amazing job of it, too.”
“He needs to show his face in the office once in a while,” Dad said. “Especially now that the two of you are making all these changes to a traditional event. I want a meeting with the two ofyou as soon as possible about these changes. I’m not sure I like them.”
“I….” There was no arguing with Dad. He was the CEO, and that meant something powerful to him. “Alright,” I said, slumping a little and rubbing my eyes. “I’ll see what I can arrange.”
I felt worse than ever once the call ended. Like, really bad. I felt sick to my stomach, and my heart felt like it was in a vise. The Christmas holidays were roaring toward us at lightning speed, and the very people who should have made the season merry and bright were hurting. I needed to do something. I needed to be Santa.
That stray thought made me smirk. I’d been nasty Santa, and it had felt so good.
My moment of memory dropped away into an even darker pit of worry. I pushed up from my chair, pocketed my phone, and resumed my earlier impulse to go and find Enzo. There had to be a reason he hadn’t called me. Maybe a reason that had to do with his dad or that Rick Deluca character his dad had mentioned.
“Trudy, I’m taking the rest of the day off,” I told Trudy as I marched past her, shrugging into the coat I’d grabbed from its hook in my office before leaving.
“You? Taking a half-day?” Trudy looked shocked.
“I have something to take care of in Norwalk,” I said.
“Does it have to do with the Christmas Eve supper?” she asked as I started down the aisle between everyone else’s desks.
“Sort of,” I said.
That was all the explanation I gave. Now that I’d made the decision to go find Enzo, I was too focused to get into a conversation about what I was doing and why. What I was doing was going to find my omega. Why? Because I had to. Because nothing would work and my life wouldn’t feel complete without him in it.
The drive from Barrington to Norwalk was agony, of course. It took a good two and a half hours to drive between the two towns. I almost wished I’d taken the company helicopter, but that would have been way too decadent. At least I was between rush hours.
Driving through the mountains calmed me down a little. I loved the way the mountains looked in fall, and even though almost all of the leaves were gone by then, the muted colors and majestic peaks still looked amazing.
The calm of the drive transformed into sheer determination by the time I reached the little diner where Enzo and I had had brunch. Part of me wanted to think of that as our first date. Another part of me hoped that Enzo would be sitting in the same corner booth waiting for me as I marched into the place, but he wasn’t there.
“Can I help you” the female alpha who owned the place greeted me with the same smile she’d worn the other day. She blinked, that smile widened, and she said, “Oh! You’re Enzo’s new friend.”
“I am,” I said, returning her smile with a tight one of my own. “Have you seen Enzo? I haven’t heard from him for a few days and I’m a little worried.”
I wanted to kick myself for blurting that out. The woman probably thought I was a stalker.
She did look concerned, but for different reasons. “I haven’t seen him either, which is unusual,” she said. “He’s usually in here once or twice a week, bless his heart. But he hasn’t been in since you were here with him. That ass, Jamie, has been snooping around, though. I think he’s looking for Enzo, too.”
None of that was comforting information I wanted to hear. “Why?” I asked, again too bluntly. “Why would that man be looking for Enzo? I take it they have a strained relationship.”
The woman huffed wryly and crossed her arms. “Jamie is a deadbeat bastard,” she said. “He ditched Enzo and his papa while David was sick. That’s unforgiveable, if you ask me. Jamie is always after money, and I have this bad feeling that he’s fallen in with a very bad crowd, which is why he needs it.”
“He seems like the type,” I said.
It all added up, but I didn’t like what it added up to. Enzo was in trouble, there was no doubt about it.
“Do you know where Enzo lives?” I asked. I could possibly find him there and get him out of whatever danger he was in. If he’d let me.
“Yeah, he lives in the Evergreen Apartments on Fifth Street,” the woman said. “It’s just around the corner from here. You could probably walk.”
I nodded, gave the woman my thanks, then headed out into the chilly afternoon. The sun was already setting, and it made me feel like time was running out. I needed to find Enzo as soon as possible and…and what, rescue him? I wasn’t even certain he was in danger. It was just a feeling I had. Maybe it was all in my head and in actuality he didn’t want anything to do with me.
